The Claiming Curse

Chapter 3

*Connor*

I’ve been in meetings at one of our pack companies for the last two days. We finally just wrapped it all up. I’ve missed two classes this week because of it and since I’m due to graduate early at the end of this semester I don’t want to be late for my next class. I go to Columbia University, which is about seven miles from where I currently am. So, I’m desperate to catch a cab. I really don’t want to walk the whole seven miles. Not that I don’t enjoy a good walk, it's just a b***h to get around downtown.

“s**t,” I shout, jumping out of the way as a delivery truck tries to turn while people are crossing the street. I quickly scan the area, but there are no freaking cabs anywhere. I keep walking, eventually passing one of the many NYU buildings as the rain starts to fall. “Great, just great,” I curse under my breath while pulling the hood of my sweatshirt up.

“She's here!”

I’m caught off guard when my wolf Cooper starts howling in my head. I actually jump at the intensity of emotion he pushes throughout my body. I’m at a loss for words, as he’s prancing around in my head, acting like a damn pup not the alpha wolf he's.

“Who is here?”

“Mate, our Mate is here.”

Well that’s gotten my full attention. Stopping dead in my tracks. I look around. People are rushing to get out of the rain and panic sets in that I'm going to miss her.

“Coop can you give me a little more info, we're in a city surrounded by buildings. I need a little more to go on here man. Did we pass her?”

Cooper sits in my mind and focuses. I can feel him push forward more so he can narrow this down a bit. I close my eyes, trying to hone in on wolf senses. Other than sitting crisscross applesauce, it must look like we’re meditating in the middle of the damn sidewalk, but I could give to shits, I’m searching for my mate.

My wolf catches a faint scent causing us to look up towards one of the NYU buildings. One story up through the window I see what appears to be a woman. I watch as she turns her head, looking down towards me. It feels like an out of body experience. The pull I’m feeling is indescribable, it’s like all of the air has left my lungs and my heart is in my throat. This is it, twenty-one years old and I’ve finally found my mate.

Apparently, Coop has had enough of me standing in the rain and starts to pull me across the street. “Move! I can’t wait anymore. I need my mate.”

“Woooh,” I yell as a city bus quickly pulls up to the sidewalk. “Jesus Cooper, you're going to get us killed before we even find her. I’ll take control of my body, thank you very much.” I hustle across the street and rush into the building. I’m a man on a damn mission, poking my head into a few open doors to see if I can catch her scent. I stick my head into a classroom, and it appears classes are just about ending. Students are starting to pack up their bags and head towards the door. “s**t, how am I going to find her here?”

“Don’t you smell her scent, you ass,” he growls. Then it hits me the smell of wildflowers on a rainy day. It’s the most amazing scent I’ve ever smelled. I follow it with my nose up in the air so I can hold onto the fragrance as we start to get bombarded with hundreds of other scents. I can feel Coop panic a bit as the classrooms empty into the halls. “Hurry we’re going to lose her in this god damn circus.”

Then her scent hits me like a brick wall.

“Oof.” I can’t help but laugh at how amazing the mate bond is, she literally ran right into me. I reach out quickly to catch her before she falls, but not before her entire bag empties all over the floor. Long red curls fall over her face. Flipping her hair out of the way, the movement causing her scent to engulf my senses. It’s almost as if her scent is imprinting itself on me and in me.

Tilting her head to face me, I’m hit with the most amazing shade of hazel eyes. Her skin is like porcelain, with tiny brown freckles spread across the bridge of her nose. Holy f*****g s**t, she's stunning.

I knew at that moment I wanted to look into those eyes for the rest of my life. I’m trying so hard to not make it obvious that I’m checking her out, but let me tell you, her curves almost bring me to my damn knees. The moon goddess knew what she was doing when she created this stunning creature. She bites her lower lip as she takes me in, her cheeks turning a sweet shade of pink and it’s the f*****g cutest thing ever.

“I’m… ummm I’m so sorry,” she stutters.

Adorable. Her voice is like an angel and as I hold her in place, I can even feel the sparks on my skin through her jacket. Coop is going crazy in my damn head and he’s ready to claim her, to mark, and mate her right here.

“Dude, you need to chill, please.”

But there is no stopping him. Coop pushes forward forcing me to say “Mine,” a lot more seductively than I would've wanted. He sits in the back of my mind, purring in my head like a damn cat. He’s so proud of himself. Now we wait for the one word we’ve been dying to hear… but it doesn't come. Cooper starts to growl, then howls, calling out to her wolf.

“Huh?” She looks confused by my claim.

“Wait, what is happening? Why isn’t she responding to the sparks?”

“Dude, you need to f*****g take a back seat, you’re scaring her.”

“Nothing, never mind. I’m sorry I didn’t see…” I try to recover quickly, but she is quick to cut me off, adding to my confusion.

“I’m sorry, truly. It was all my fault really. I was rushing and walked right in front of you. I do that when I’m thinking too hard about something,” she rambles on and even though it’s adorable, I’m at a loss for words. She isn’t reacting like a she-wolf normally does. I’ve seen my friends find their mates before and it’s instant. This goddess in front of me— is human?

“Mine,” I try again.

"Mine? Who, me?" her brows draw together, she’s completely confused. I bend down to help her pick up her papers. I need to save this conversation fast, so I don’t look like a creeper or stalker. I watch as she almost puts my file folder into her bag.

“Ah, that one, that one is mine.”

“Nice save Casanova.”

She looks down at the folder in her hands and her cheeks turn red in embarrassment. As she goes to hand me the folder, I see her react to my scent. Her eyes dilate, her breath picks up. She’s almost in a haze. Maybe she's a wolf… Finally! I’m finally going to hear the words I’ve been craving since I turned eighteen. Crazy, that a young alpha male has been waiting for his mate, but I have. Her eyes close and she hums in appreciation, as she extends her hand to shake mine.

“Hi, I’m Be-Becca.”

“Mine,” Cooper repeats as he pushes forward again. I cough, hoping she did not notice the slight change in my voice. His desperation is going to ruin this! I try to push him to the back of my mind and f*****g lock him in.

“Yes, yours…” lust drips off her words, causing my d**k to twitch. She shakes her head a bit as if to clear the fog she’s in. Her eyes go back to normal, and her breathing regulates.

Thoroughly confused by what the hell is going on, I try to do anything to keep the conversation going. “Um, mine is uh… my name is Connor, nice to meet you, I think.” Taking her hand to shake it. I try to make light of the fact that she nearly ran me over. Her eyes dilate again and f**k me, is that her arousal I smell now? I’m desperately trying to calm my anxiety because she’s so responsive but not the way I expected.

“I smell her wolf.”

My eyes nearly bug out of my head. If Cooper can smell her wolf, then why is she not responding to my claim? I knew instantly that the beautiful creature in front of me was my mate, my queen, my forever. But she’s not reacting the way I expected my mate would. I start to panic, maybe Cooper is wrong, maybe she truly is human.

What if I hurt her? I mean she just ran right into my chest at full speed. That must have hurt right. Being of alpha blood the likeliness of her hurting me is slim to none, but now I’m worried that I hurt her when she ran into me.

My brain won’t shut off. I’m running scenarios in my head a mile a minute. My mate is most likely human, which has a whole other slew of issues or, she's a wolf and doesn't like what the goddess has chosen for her and is going to reject me. My shoulders go tight, what if she already has a chosen mate? Cooper growls and snaps in my mind at the thought.

“She hasn’t said she's rejecting us, but something isn’t right here.”

It’s extremely rare when a wolf finds a human mate. To be honest it’s not a bad thing, it just means I have to do it the old-fashioned way. Which will have me totally out of my element. Hold onto your hat’s ladies and gents, that's right I'm one of the rare alpha’s that has been waiting for their fated mate. Flirting, wooing, courting, I mean I get the concept of it all, but I’ve never dated before. It’s not crazy to wait for your fated mate. Yes, I understand that I’m an alpha, that we have a crazy high s*x drive, blah, blah, blah, but I want my mate to be my one and only. Ah, yes to answer that question swirling in that dirty mind of yours, I'm well acquainted with my hand, and on that inappropriate note… I must play this cool and not scare the crap out of her, because if she's in fact human, she won’t feel the sparks at all, right? s**t, I don’t know, she might. In the end, she may only feel more drawn to me but that could be about it.

As I shake her hand in mine, I can feel the sparks ignite over my skin. I want to claim her right here in the middle of the hallway. I want to take in her scent, kiss those perfect lips. Feeling the mate bond pull is everything everyone ever said it would be. I’m one hundred percent in love with this woman in front of me. For the first time in my life, I feel complete and at peace with the world, because I know without a doubt that everything will be okay as long as Becca is by my side.

Cooper has me edging closer to her. Then she shakes the lust from her mind, and she pulls her hand away. I can’t help feeling a bit hurt by her reaction and realize this is going to be tougher than I hoped. But I rub my hand trying to mark the feeling of the sparks into my memory, never wanting to forget this moment. Looking down, I notice that she's rubbing her hand as well. Holy s**t does she feel the sparks? I’m sooo confused, damnit!

My eyes fall to her neck. She’s wearing a V-neck style t-shirt under her jacket, which gives me a good view of her marking spot. My imagination goes off the rails at the thought of my mark sitting on her skin. The mental image alone has every drop of blood in my body rushing to my c**k. It takes everything in me not to lick my lips from the sight. f**k, I want to mark her. Out of instinct I move in, reaching out to touch her. My hand initially was heading towards the spot my mark will one day lay but I got distracted by a simple chain that she has around her neck. On the chain sits, a Celtic cross. I’m hit with déjà vu. This looks so familiar to me, but I can’t place it. I go to flip the cross over, but before I get a chance, she pulls it from my hands. Becca throws her bag over her shoulder and pushes past me as fast as she can.

“Wait!” Where the hell is she going?

“She's leaving, why is our mate leaving us?” Coop growls.

“I don’t know.”

I watch as she runs up the stairs towards the breezeway. She looks back at me, and my heart leaps… I have a chance. “Hope to run into you later,” I shout, but this time she doesn’t turn around. Glancing down at my hand remembering the feel of the sparks I’ve waited so long to experience, I notice a small wallet on the ground. Oh, thank the goddess! I quickly pick it up, lifting it to my nose, mmmmm wildflowers… yup it’s hers. I love fate!

Could I just follow her scent? Yes, the answer is yes. I'll never forget her scent as long as I live. Do I want to scare the s**t out of her? The answer to that is No! Cooper picked up the faint scent of a wolf but there could be other wolves here and maybe in my excitement of finding my mate I’m not thinking clearly. “I know what I smelled.” Coop grumbles. So instead of going the route of a stalker, I run as fast as I can to the closest student info desk. After some persuasion I got them to give me her dorm info so I could return her wallet.

I’m now standing outside the door to her room. “You ass. Knock the door down and get her, she’s our mate. I want my mate.” I shake my head at Cooper's tantrum.

“Chill Coop, it's not that I don’t want to, but do you want to scare her?” I could feel him roll his eyes as he flops down in the back of my mind. I take a deep breath and knock. I can hear shuffling around from the other side of the door and then nothing.

“Hello?” I call out, but I get no response. I try again. “Hello?”

The door swings open and there she stands. She’s frozen in place as she openly checks me out. Goddess she's stunning. I can tell she was just about to head out so I’m glad I didn’t wait to track her down. The smile on my face shifts to a smirk as I catch the scent of her arousal. Her eyes are locked on the very noticeable bulge in my jeans, but I nearly lose it as I watch her tongue dart out to wet her lips. I need to break the tension, and fast.

“Ahem.”

Her face flushes from being caught but just like before the lust that was heavy in her eyes a moment ago is gone.

“Um, hi.” She looks confused as to why I’m standing here. I reach my hand out to shake hers but this time she pulls back. I try so hard not to show my disappointment.

“Connor, right? Why are you here?” She questions nervously, as she starts to look around cautiously.

“You dropped this in the hall. I asked student services which dorm you were in so I could return it.” I say handing over the small wallet. Becca carefully takes it from my hands to avoid touching me and once she’s clear she immediately starts looking through it.

“Geez, I didn’t take anything,” I joke.

“Sorry. Thank you, I didn’t even realize I lost it,” she stuffs it in her pocket, rocking on her heels. She looks like she’s ready to make a mad dash.

“Are you always in a hurry?” I ask, wanting to get this conversation on a better track. She looks up at me, and for the first time I notice that she looks stressed. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to be late for work,” she says, pushing past me as she heads out the door. Becca passes the elevator and makes a bee line straight towards the stairs, which piques my curiosity since we’re on the sixth floor. I hurry after her as she pulls the door open and starts to fly down the staircase.

“Are you always this inquisitive with people you just meet?” she inquires, but I just give her my best flirty half smile.

“Well, to be honest, no.”

Stopping dead in her tracks, she turns on a dime, causing me to nearly run right into her. We’re face to face, so close I can feel the heat radiating off of her. It takes every ounce of strength I’ve got not to grab her and kiss her.

“Can I help you with something?” she asks with her hands on her hips.

I take a step back holding up my hands in defense. “Ah, no. Well, yes. Yes, you can. After we ran into each other after class, I found your wallet. I’m taking it as a sign.” I say, pushing my hands deep into my pockets.

She c***s an eyebrow as she gives me a questioning look. “Is that so? A sign for what?”